10 hugs
by kaz320
Summary: WARNING: SLASH A series of short fics featuring JimSilver pairing. Rating is for Theme 4, 6 and 7.
1. Theme: 1 Code Name

Title: Scallywag  
Theme: 1. Code Name  
Rating: G  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this. 

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Out of all the subjects he had taken at the Interstellar Academy, Mechanical Engineering was Jim's most favorite. He had been so eager and diligent that his skill became capable of designing a simple robot on his own, at the end of the first year.

"Morph, can you pass me the solder wick over there?" The ever-cheerful shape shifter chirped blissfully, and brought his current master the braided metal wire. He was very excited to have Jim around again, though Sarah, B.E.N. and the Dopplers kept him good company. One of the brightest freshmen at the Academy--soon to be a sophomore--was back at the Benbow to spend the summer break there. After helping out Sarah at lunchtime, Jim went back to his summer project, which he had been working on since the first day of his break. Intrigued by an intricate structure in Jim's dexterous hands, Morph settled himself on Jim's left shoulder to observe his master's craftsmanship. "Okay…this will do." Jim smiled contently as he set an IC chip on the motherboard he held. There were several mechanical modules he had finished so far, but what exactly those modules will compose once integrated, was still a mystery to the Benbownians. Jim answered Morph's somewhat questioning chirp with a grin. "It's a project, Morph--Project Scallywag." At the mention of a familiar word, Morph mimicked vivaciously. "Scallywag!"

--

Jim couldn't help a little chuckle as he saw two miniature versions of the cyborg pirate sitting on the ledge of the window in his room. After a while of studying two of them, he started tickling the one on the left with his forefinger. Seemingly complex handicraft was soon turned into a giggling puddle of pink blob. "You like this, Morph?" Jim retrieved a small remote from his pocket and pushed the red button. With a metallic creak, mini-Silver gradually raised its cyborg arm and clenched its mechanical fist. Morph was delighted and flipped in the air.

The organic side of Mini-Silver's body was made of felt and cotton, while its elaborate cyborg side was the assembly of all high-end electrical parts, fruit of Jim's wisdom and dedication. Its outfits were sewn by Sarah, who couldn't bear to watch Jim keep on pricking his finger with a needle. The coat had a pocket, which he had especially requested. Jim carefully placed what he had clasped in his hand into the little pocket. "Perfect." The pocket was just the right size for a doubloon, thanks to Sarah's reliable sewing skill.

"I miss ya, old scallywag." Jim held his handicraft to his chest, affectionately embracing the manifestation of his infatuation for the cyborg, which seemed to never fade.

Fin.


	2. Theme: 2 Snow

Title: A Pleasant Change  
Theme: 2. Snow  
Rating: PG for Mild Language.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this. 

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Feeling his shoulders chilled and shuddering, Jim was dragged out of his state of REM sleep. From the cobalt blue of the sky sparkled with faint shines of smallish stars still lingering around, he could tell it was rather early in the morning, probably an hour or two earlier than the time he was supposed to wake up. Pulling himself tight, Jim got out of his hammock and picked his battered jacket up, which was dumped in the corner of the sleeping quarter. He had been running around doing various chores throughout the day yesterday just as usual, so his body clamored for more sleep by tormenting him with a heavy dullness. He curled up in his hammock and tried to go back to sleep, but it was way too cold to fall asleep even with his thick jacket on. Muttering, he gave up and decided to go to the galley to warm himself at a stove. As he glared at the skylight, he noticed a tiny, but sharp white shine falling onto the deck.

_Damn, don't tell me it's snowing!_

Suddenly he remembered that Amelia mentioned the Legacy passing through the Frigid Zone or something last night at dinner. She kindly gave him a fair warning that Jim's body might be not resilient enough to stay asleep under the cold climate then, since his human skin is neither furred nor callous, unlike all the other crewmembers. When he finally finished washing mountains of dishes after dinner, her words had slipped out of his mind.

Snow always reminded him of the last Christmas before his father left. He was waiting for him to come back, desperately wishing to offer him a piece of Christmas Cake he prepared for him with a bit (or rather, a lot) of Sarah's help. He sat on the stoop watching the pier all day, but his wish wasn't granted. Ever since, he hated all sorts of baked sweets.

However, the sight of the deck covered with a thin veil of virgin snow wasn't too bad. Actually, it looked almost sacred. Although snow-shoveling the rooftop of the Benbow was quite a tedious job, he enjoyed the utter silence and blindingly white view he could overlook from there.

As he trotted over to the galley, trying to leave as few footprints as possible, Jim saw Silver looking up at the sky from the staircase down to the galley. There was a ladle gripped in his mechanical hand, generating white puffs in a chilly air. Grinning in the expectation of his favorite chowder, Jim practically jumped onto the cyborg and enthusiastically wrapped his arms around the bulky belly, using the cold weather as an excuse for the hug. Silver's apron softly smelled of chocolate--probably from the brownie he baked last night for his own morning snack--besides the butter and milk of the chowder. Listening to the steady beating of Silver's heart, Jim found himself not minding the sweet scent anymore, and it was a pleasant change for him.

Fin.


	3. Theme: 3 Destiny

Title: Innocence  
Theme: 3. Destiny  
Rating: PG for Mild suggestive content.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this. 

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"30 eggs, 500g of solara seed…" Jim checked through the things-to-get note Silver gave him, as he walked through the wet market. "…Kalepsian sugarcanes, of all things. What the heck does he need them for?" With a little frown on his face, he looked around the very crowded market, and spotted one small stall packed with various fresh fruits.

A few hours ago, the Legacy made a quick stop at this planet for restoring supplies. The voyage had been quite rough recently, and they ran out of supplies faster than Silver had expected. Since the present voyage wasn't as urgent as Captain Amelia's past ones, she was fine with bringing her ship to a brief halt, although she didn't miss making a few sarcastic remarks upon the cook's unreliable forecast and clumsy risk-management.

Jim came up to the stall to look for the sugarcanes. They were there in a corner of the shop, next to a pile of the star-shaped, bright yellow fruit. Jim had never seen such a weird fruit before. They looked like the stars pictured in the read-along books for children.

A cat-like shop assistant flashed a commercial smile as she noticed Jim looking curiously at the peculiar fruit. "They're Paopu Fruits, mister! Highly reputed for their extra sweetness and exotic aroma. Besides that, what makes them special is the legend! A lot of couples buy Paopu fruit for their special day!!"

Though the shopgirl's fluent salestalk mildly annoyed him, Jim's attention was drawn into the fruit further. "…Couples?"

The shopgirl's grin grew wider. "Yes, mister. Paopu Fruit is said to bind together the destinies of any two people who share one. Romantic, isn't it? I'm pretty sure that a fine looking man like you can use it…"

The feline's suggestive tone made him feel a bit awkward. He actually had someone in his mind, but he bet that "someone" is far from her assumption. Jim glanced at the price tag in front of the fruit. The price printed there was ridiculous; he nearly believed that the shopgirl had added an extra digit by mistake. It was almost ten times more expensive than the sugarcanes. For a fruit approximately the same size as a starfish, pricing was completely unreasonable.

Before he could protest against the potential rip-off, the shopgirl started another of her winning salestalks. "Paopu Fruit is very precious, mister. They only grow in a small island called Destiny Island, on the outskirts of galaxy. Despite the difficulty to import them fresh, we still go through all the troubles to sell them in here, simply because a lot of loving couples need them."

With his arms folded, Jim contemplated the validity of the pricing for a while. In fact, money wasn't really a big deal. He received a monthly wage from the canine financier. There hadn't been many stopovers, so he saved up most of his money. One Paopu Fruit wouldn't hurt, even though it's ridiculously priced.

"Okay, I'll take one. And a bundle of that sugarcanes, please."

The shopgirl beamed triumphantly. "Thank you very much, mister! I wish you and your precious one well."

Jim paid for the sugarcane with the money he was given by Silver, while he bought the strange star-shaped fruit at his own expense.

--

When he went back to the Legacy, Silver, who had been in charge of getting heavier stuff like flours and chunks of meat, was already back in the galley preparing some vegetables for cooking dinner. "Ye got all the stuff, Jimbo?"

"Perfectly." Jim quickly put the Paopu fruit aside on the table behind him, and started stowing the rest of the items into the designated shelves respectively.

"A Paopu Fruit? It wasn't on me list!"

Jim winced as Silver's sharp eye caught the presence of the odd fruit. There was an accusing tone in his voice; obviously he knew how much the fruit cost. "Oh…well, I got it for myself…paid out of my pocket. The shopgirl said it's nice, and I was, um, sort of hungry, so…" Jim faltered out, hoping that Silver didn't know about the legend. "They're highly reputed for their extra sweetness and exotic aroma, according to her. Have you ever tried it before?"

"I'd rather buy 20 purps. That blasted fruit cost daftly!"

The cabin boy was relieved to hear that the destiny of his crush wasn't bound together with anybody yet. He showed an irresistibly sweet smile that had gotten him away with many troubles in the past. (It didn't work for the inorganic robot cops, though.) "Why don't we share it then? For once, we gotta eat some fruits other than the purps!"

Silver raised his eyebrows skeptically at Jim's somewhat unnatural cheerfulness. The protégé cringed a bit and shrugged casually. "Well, only if you want to. If you don't like it, that's fine--I'm pretty sure it'll be nice, though. The shop people found them worth going through all the troubles to--"

Before he could finish his words, he saw Silver shifting gears in his arm and his intricate mechanical hand was shifted to the practical kitchen knife. The star-shaped fruit was peeled in an instant by the cook's skillful knife, and then neatly cut into half.

"Here, lad."

Jim blinked a few times as Silver offered him his cut, then brightened up at once. "Thanks! Now, let's try this..." He took a bite of the fruit while peeked at Silver, who swallowed a mouthful of it. The smallish fruit was soon finished, shared by two of them.

"Well…it wasn't too bad, but I still think yer ripped off, Jimbo." Licking the juice off of his thumb, Silver said nonchalantly.

A warm fuzziness welled up in Jim's slender body, and he couldn't hold his urge to attack Silver with a big hug. "It's worth it. Believe me."

The cyborg was taken aback by the boy's suddenly evident affection, but eventually chuckled and patted his shoulder.

Fin.

A/N: Paopu Fruit is from the RPG "Kingdom Hearts". TP wasn't in there, though. I was pretty disappointed :-(


	4. Theme: 4 “I Forgot My Pants!”

Title: A Hot Day  
Theme: 4. "I Forgot My Pants!"  
Rating: PG-13 for some sexual references.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this. 

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"What the hell is wrong in here? Yesterday 'twas bloody freezing, and now it's scorching!!" While groaning, Jim was actually in a full knowledge of the climate in this particular area of the galaxy. Weather here is known to be temperamental and unpredictable due to the atypical dynamics applied to the stellar system. However, his good understanding of Astronomy didn't help Jim in abating the heat in the least. Most of the crewmembers seemed to be holding up okay, save for Onus and a few others whose skins were as sensitive as Jim's. The multi-eyed alien became nothing more than a heap of exhaustion, plastered on the bottom of the crow's nest like a chewing gum.

Jim had already taken all of his clothes off except for his black boxers. Amelia might have frowned at such an undisciplined posture of the cabin boy on her ship, but she had been staying in her stateroom since morning, and seemed like she'd rather stay there for the rest of the day. After all, her species are good at avoiding troubles, not simply confronting them.

"Hot, hot hot hot hothothothothot!!" Onus' intermittent muttering wasn't exactly pleasing to Jim.

"Thank you VERY much for stating the obvious." Sweating all over his generously exposed body, he snorted at the alien's indignity. He almost had a heart attack when something very cold touched his bare back, totally out of the blue. "WHOA!!! WHAT THE…"

As he spun his head around frantically, a happy pink blob giggled mischievously, with an ice cube held in his mouth.

"Morph, you-- Ow!" Morph harassed Jim again with a literally icy touch on the boy's fit abdomen, and flew away elatedly. "Hey!! Stop right there, you lil' squidge!" Jim ran across the deck chasing the shape shifter, and ended up bursting into the galley.

"That's it! Now, it's time for you to--hmph!" Morph hid himself behind a bulky figure of his master, and naturally Jim bumped into it. He heard a lighthearted chuckle as he lifted his face, hands clutching on the cook's shirt.

"Playin' tag with Morphy, eh? Forget it Jimbo, ye'll never win--" Silver's words came to halt in halfway, realizing irregularity in his cabin boy's current state. His lithe body almost barenaked, smooth skin accentuated by clear beads of sweat, cheeks lightly blushed, breathless from running. The vulnerable teenager clinging to him was quite undeniably--sensual.

Silver cleared his throat and averted his eyes from what seemed to be an immorally provocative sight. "Um…what happened to all yer clothes, Jim?"

Suddenly became aware of his nakedness, Jim blushed deeper and let go of Silver's shirt at once. "I…took them off, 'coz it's…really hot, Y'know. The weather around here is crazy."

Silver raised his eyebrows. "Ye'll get yer skin all burnt, walkin' around on deck wearin' nothin'!"

Looking down at the cyborg's mechanic foot sulkily, Jim was about to say something. Instead, he let out a short cry and shivered, feeling a half-melt ice cube trailing along his nape. "MORPH!!"

Before the blob could fly away, Silver speedily captured the gelatinous body in his grasp. He just couldn't afford having any more of his cabin boy running around naked, for the sake of his self-control. Silver gently retracted himself and turned around to reach for the freezer. "This'll help ye bring down yer heat, lad." Silver picked an ice cube and offered it to the boy.

Jim looked at it intently for a while, and then took it in his mouth directly from Silver's good fingers. Silver was entirely startled by the hot, wet feeling engulfing the tips of his fingers. The impish adolescent didn't miss licking Silver's index finger playfully before it was hesitantly withdrawn.

"Hmm…tastes like purp. Whatcha cookin'?" Jim cast an upward glance at Silver's eyes, which failed to disguise his confusion and indubitable desire. Jim displayed his most coquettish smile, and practically purred. "Don't tell me you're cooking that Bonzabeast stew, 'coz it'll make me feel even hotter…"

Fin.


	5. Theme: 5 Chocolate

Title: Tales and a Secret  
Theme: 5. Chocolate  
Rating: PG for Mild suggestive content.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this.

Sitting in the corner of the galley with a mug of hot chocolate grasped in his hands, the cabin boy listened to the adventure tales delivered by his cyborg superior. Although his stance was seemingly nonchalant, he was listening more intently than any other crewmembers surrounding Silver in there. Silver's storytelling on some nights was one of the rare entertainments available for the Legacy crew. His tales themselves were of sufficient excitement, and his delivery of them with exaggerated cybernetic gestures made the whole show remarkably attractive.

As much as Jim enjoyed Silver's stories, he couldn't help feeling a bit of jealousy towards whoever was mentioned in them. Once Silver told a story about him and a young spacer saving the day in a voyage to Kinapis. Jim bitterly thought that if he had been there, he could do much better job than that canine landlubber.

Sometimes Jim wondered if he would ever be mentioned in one of Silver's tales. The thought made him feel a little melancholic, because it implied their parting. He adored Silver to the point of growing jealous of his past comrades. Jim never wanted to be put in Silver's past, end up being a part of his "good old days". He wanted to be in the cook's current life, always having that peculiar cybernetic hum and creak within his reach.

Jim usually left the galley quietly as soon as Silver finished his tale, while the rest of the crew lingered a bit more for chats and drinks. At that particular night, he waited till the last crewmember was chased out of the galley by Silver. Though where he was sitting down was hidden in a shadow of staircase, the boy was pretty sure that the Cyborg eye had detected his presence. In a peaceful silence, Silver lit his pipe and took a puff from it. "Can't sleep, Jimbo?" The cabin boy held his breath for a moment as his pet name was called, but tentatively came up to the cook before long. "Well, I–" Fidgeting with his mug, Jim looked at everywhere but his favorite cyborg. "Ye want a refill?" Silver shifted in his chair, taking another puff. "Uh, no thanks, I was just–" After a little hesitation, Jim put his mug on the table and threw his arms around Silver's neck. The cyborg was beyond surprised, but Jim couldn't see his shocked expression. "Y'know…I can be much more useful than the canine buddy of yours you mentioned in one of your stories. I've got all the solar surfin' moves that'll come in handy for sure, and I'm a quick learner as you already know, so–" Jim hoped that he made his voice convincing, but it seemed unlikely. "–after this voyage, when you go off for your next one, can I–can I tag along?"

It almost sounded like a proposal, as sweet as a mugful of hot chocolate. Silver's answer to it was their precious little secret, which Jim cherished dearly.

Fin.


	6. Theme: 6 Secret

Title: Southern Galactic Fried Shrimp  
Theme: 6. Secret  
Rating: PG-13 for suggestive content.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this.

Jim could hardly believe what he had just done. He thwacked Silver with a spatula--No, that was beside the point. The point was, he just dedicated his first kiss to somebody he admired in a way he had never had before in his life. Underneath the heaving chest, his heart was hammering. A mixture of excitement, agitation and bittersweet sense of guilt overwhelmed him so much that he thought he was going to faint. Jim sat down on a corner of the deck, pulling his knees to his chest. He remembered the touch was surprisingly soft–as if it signified the man's gracefulness, which sometimes Jim caught a glimpse of. The midnight blue of the Etherium was somewhat enchanting, and the soft cool wind felt good against his hotly flushed cheeks and ears.

––––

The Etherium had been rather harsh for the Legacy today. Captain Amelia's relentless orders worked the crew to the bones, and it meant that their usually healthy appetite became almost fierce. At the end of the day, both Silver and Jim were thoroughly exhausted from feeding the starving crew; therefore the cyborg shooed all of them away from the galley after dinner, in order to have some peace and quiet. Jim was the only one who was allowed to stay; he couldn't help feeling thrilled at Silver's partiality toward him.

Sometimes overwork could affect a person in a strange way. The adrenalin generated in a process of handling tons of jobs still remained within Jim's body. Despite his excessive weariness, he didn't feel like sleeping any time soon. While Silver enjoyed his rum at one of the tables there, Jim tidied up the shelves in the galley.

"Y'know, I can whip up something, if you want a bite." The cabin boy offered casually, wishing his mentor would take up that offer so that he would be able to show some of his cooking skills.

Silver's reply came in with a good-natured chuckle. "What's on yer menu, chef?"

Jim grinned and opened the refrigerator. "Lemme see…we've got Kerian shrimp, so my suggestion would be Southern Galactic Fried Shrimp. One of my Specials." Jim winked cheerfully, and put his apron on.

Jim was good at cooking beer snacks and appetizers, rather than the decent meals like what Sarah cooked at the Benbow. The small bar at the common room there seldom had customers, but a few spacers came in every once in a while. They usually came late in the night after Sarah had gone to bed, so it was Jim's job to take care of them. Unlike all the other chores at the inn, Jim found that particular job enjoyable. He got to eavesdrop the conversations between spacers, or if he was lucky, spacers told him their adventure stories.

Within 15 minutes, Kerian shrimps were fried perfect light golden brown. Putting them on Silver's aluminum saucer with a spatula, Jim announced joyfully. "It's done. Bon Appetit!"

But no answer came. Instead, he heard a little snore. "…Silver?" He turned around to see the cyborg dozing off. He was a bit disappointed, but in the next moment a mischievous smile appeared on his face.

Jim went up right next to Silver and studied the sleeping cyborg closely. His face was nothing handsome or beautiful, but to Jim, it was the most charming face in the entire Etherium. Totally kissable.

"…Kissable?" Unconsciously whispering his thought aloud, he was tempted to get closer to Silver. Though he knew Silver liked him a lot, he assumed that Silver's affection for him was a mere father-son relationship. On the other hand, the young cabin boy's feeling for the cyborg had many more aspects, including the ones concerning desire and intimacy. Jim highly doubted if he would ever get anything more than a wholesome hug from his mentor. Maybe this was the chance for him to get a little bit of what he really wanted.

Jim gradually leaned forward till only an inch or less was left between the cyborg and him. After a while of hesitation, he closed his eyes and ventured to make a physical contact he had been craving for.

The tender feel of Silver's lips made the boy shiver in a delightful sensation, while a faint taste of rum made him dizzy. Initially he intended to only brush an instant kiss, but the pleasure he was having from it was so heavenly that he couldn't just let go yet. This could be his only chance ever to get this much from his object of adoration. Why not indulge in it while he could?

Jim felt Silver murmuring something, and broke off the kiss momentary. It was too unclear to figure out, but it sounded like somebody's name. Just before Jim could resume his previous action, there came the murmur again.

" Mmph…Rachel…"

Jim froze at once, feeling the color draining from his face. For a good few seconds he stood there in blank surprise, but soon enough his blood started to tingle in his guts. "I AIN'T NO RACHEL!!!" Jim furiously thwacked the half-asleep cyborg on the head with his spatula and stormed out of the galley.

––––

In fact, he felt pretty bad for thwacking Silver, but in the meantime he was still mad about being mistaken for some God-Knows-Who girl. Defeated and crestfallen, the cabin boy heaved a deep sigh. Now Silver's sexual orientation was proven to be absolutely normal. It meant that Jim had to hide his feelings, the kiss, and the thwacking altogether from the cyborg. _Great. Just Great._ Biting his lower lip in sullen mood, he reluctantly stood up to his feet and headed to the sleeping quarters. At that time, he wasn't yet to know Silver's secret, regarding his helpless crush on his human protégé.

Fin.

A/N: I took "Rachel" from Rachel Walls (1760-1789), who is said to be the first American female pirate :-)


	7. Theme: 7 Crazy

Title: Fever  
Theme: 7. Crazy  
Rating: PG-13 for minor suggestive adult themes.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this.

Despite his rebellious attitude, Jim drank much less than people assumed him to do. In fact, he had hardly drunk since he found out that his alcohol capacity is rather limited; therefore, he must suffer from quite a severe hangover. As he woke up at 5:30 as usual, he found himself to be in a condition 10 times worse than his worst hangover ever. With his head all fever-dazed, Jim could only just think of a bottle of antifebrile Silver kept in one of the shelves in the galley. He got out of his hammock with all his might, and staggered along towards the door. When he reached for the doorknob, which was triplicated in his hazy view, the door abruptly opened and Silver showed up, with his face clearly showing his anger. "Jimbo, I told ye ye'd better not t' have me wake ye up–" His expression was soon shifted to concern, as he saw Jim showing a weak smile in relief and collapsed on the spot. Before Jim's knees touches the floor, Silver swiftly extended his cyborg arm and supported the boy's limp body with his mechanical hand under the boy's armpit. Then pressing his good hand to backside of Jim's knee, Silver scooped the slender boy up in a smooth motion.

Metal and grease, high-tar cigar, rum, various spices, purps and salty wind of Etherium–intricate mixture of all those was Silver's musk. Jim's semi-consciousness allowed him only blurry eyesight, but he still could tell it was Silver's sleeping quarters where he was laid down. In their voyage, Silver wasn't sleeping in the same cabin as his fellow crewmembers. Their feline captain with a noble heart kindly took the cook's half-cybernetic body into consideration, and allocated him a bed instead of hammock. Jim was pretty sure Silver wouldn't have any problems with slumbering in a hammock, though. Silver's bed was filled with his own peculiar musk, which was overwhelming for the vulnerable cabin boy, who had been desperately trying to hide and repress his crush on the old cyborg. With his reason-emotion balance thoroughly lost under his awful health condition, he couldn't prevent his thought from drifting to the fantasy of him, tightly secured in Silver's tender embrace. He realized that his despicable thoughts started to take an effect on his generative function. He felt dreadful but there was nothing he could do about it, other than releasing the wicked heat deposited in his lower body. Shutting his eyes in disgust, he reluctantly obeyed his instinct.

.....

Frowning at the pasty remains on his palm, with his now much clearer head, Jim noted that he was damn lucky that nobody had come to intervene his little "commotion". Quickly wiping the mess off with a scrap of cotton cloth he always kept in his pocket for buffing his solar surfer, Jim was sure he must be insane. Drowsiness gradually overtook him, and when he barely recognized a cyborg cook coming into the room with something savory, Jim didn't care if he had gone crazy, because he had never been this contented in his life.

Fin.


	8. Theme: 8 Storm

Title: Saccharine Accident  
Theme: 8. Storm  
Rating: PG for Mild suggestive content.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this.

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Jim was pretty sure that Captain Amelia wouldn't be too pleased if she knew about his thoughts, but he always secretly wished for a storm to come. Not a heavy one of course, but one which was small enough for the Legacy to put up with, but big enough to give him an excuse to cling to his favorite cyborg. The last time a storm hit the Legacy was about a couple of weeks ago. Jim started to miss the warm feeling of Silver's massive belly, which he clung his dear life to when a sudden blast almost swiped him off the deck.

He was wiping tables in the galley when the ship was suddenly jolted. "Wow, what was it?!" Holding onto the edge of the table, Jim turned around and saw Silver swiftly turning off the gas.

"Must be the Etherium turbulence. Didn't ye hear the Cap'n and Doc's lovely chat on the deck this Mornin'?" He smirked at the boy's defensiveness.

"Yeah I saw them on the deck flirting with each other while I was swabbing about the place, but I don't have the cybernetic ear to figure out what exactly they were whispering." Jim rolled his eyes. "Anyway, is it gonna be a storm, or just turbulence? Do we help out the riggers on the deck like last time?" He pretended to be annoyed, but his bright eyes betrayed his excitement.

"Nah, they can handle a lil' turbulence like this." Silver chuckled lightheartedly and stopped peeling a bucketful of potatoes in halfway. The cook took his apron off and came over to one of the cleaned tables. "Yer done with the tables, Jimbo?"

Jim wiped the last table for one last time before he answered. "Yeah, I'm finished."

"Good. Come over and sit here. There's nothin' we can do till the turbulence's over." As Jim came up to the table to join Silver, another jolt hit the ship and made Jim trip.

"_Ow!_" He saw the galley's skylight panning in his view, and the next thing he realized was that he was cozily sitting in Silver's lap. Finding the cyborg's bemused expression in proximity, Jim blushed right up to his ears. "S–Sorry!!! I…I…." He hurriedly tried to get himself out of there, but the turbulence made sport of him once again. **"_Whoa!!_"** Another jolt sent him to collide his face with Silver's, and naturally his lips were firmly planted on the cyborg's left cheek. The man's cheek was enticingly soft, but the embarrassment took the better of Jim before he could enjoy the feeling. "Aaaahh!! I– I'm SORRY!!! I totally, absolutely _didn't_ mean to…" Panicking almost pitifully, he instantly let go of Silver's shirt he had been clutching and struggled to get out of the older man's lap. Much to his disgrace, he heard Silver's amused chuckle when he finally stood up on his feet in front of the table.

"Why, I didn't know yer in love with me, Jimbo."

Jim thanked stars that he didn't pass out on the spot. He knew Silver was just teasing him, but he couldn't help flushing deeper. Meanwhile, he was somewhat hurt by Silver's carelessness. The cyborg was not at all aware that he actually hit the nail on the head. The cabin boy pouted and turned away from his mentor. "Yeah, you wish!" He snapped and headed to the hatchway to the deck, hearing more chuckles from Silver.

When he emerged onto the deck, Etherium was already calm and peaceful. However, his mental state was definitely still in turbulence. It was true that he wished for a storm to come, and he most definitely wanted to touch the cyborg, but touching to that extent was way beyond his imagination. Faltering in bewilderment, Jim went up to the mast and leaned his forehead against the wooden surface of it. _Yeah, somehow I'm totally in love with you and I don't even know when, how and WHY it happened._ He sighed deeply, and started toward the storeroom where he kept the cleaning equipment.

.....

It's been a hard day's night for the multi-eyed alien. Onus merrily took a mouthful of the stew, only to spit it out miserably. Naturally enough, he was swatted with a ladle by the angry cook.

"Don't ye dare waste me stew like that, Eyeballs!!"

Onus protested with tears in his numerous eyes, both from the swat and the dreadful taste of the stew. "But Captain, the stew tastes baaad!!"

"What the…_Eww!_ What in blue blazes is _this_!?" Silver scooped the stew from the pot with his index finger, and frowned as he tasted the abnormally saccharine stew.

"You must've mistaken sugar for salt or somethin'!" Bird Brain Mary squeaked as she tossed her bowl aside with disgust.

"What happened to you, Captain? You seemed to be all dazed this afternoon, after the Etherium turbulence." Turnbuckle asked him rather flatly.

Silver was thrown off balance by the helmsman's words for a split second, but shortly regained his composure and exclaimed in an overbearing manner. "Now, mark me, the lot of ya! Ye all finish the blasted stew, or ye eat nothin' for the rest of the voyage!" The horrified groan from the crew was none of his concerns, when he had a certain humanoid boy occupying his mind. His dazedness and perplexity were all to be blamed on his protégé, who had been swabbing the deck almost maniacally all this afternoon. The cook heaved a deep sigh, and opened the fridge to see what he could feed the pup later in the night.

Fin.


	9. Theme: 9 Everywhere

Title: Witness  
Theme: 9. Everywhere  
Rating: PG for Mild suggestive content.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this. 

----------

Onus had considerably more eyes than his fellow crewmembers. He could easily see things which others naturally missed. Especially when he was in the crow's nest, nothing escaped his notice. He made an excellent watchman without a doubt.

However, it wasn't like something exciting happened all the time on the Legacy. Beside the infinite stretches of Etherium, all he saw there were riggers taking a nap in a corner and the humanoid cabin boy swabbing the deck with occasional mutterings.

Somehow he liked watching the boy. He considered it to be out of sheer boredom; he could hardly stand watching the quiet, uneventful Etherium for an entire day, and his options of entertainment were poorly limited to either some filthy, unpleasant-looking riggers or a youthful humanoid teenager. He thought nobody would blame him for choosing the latter.

From his observation on the boy, he had noticed a few things about him so far. His big bright eyes were one thing. The intriguing color of them reminded Onus of the grayed sky at dawn on his home planet. The boy's somewhat always-neat hair was another thing Onus liked observing. While the boy was swabbing the deck, his long bangs swayed beside his face in a smooth motion. Onus was pretty clueless how humanoid faces were usually evaluated, but the boy's one seemed to be well-proportioned enough to him.

One day, Onus noticed something unusual about the boy. At first, he couldn't really point out what exactly it was. He started to get the picture when his Captain (the real one, not the snobbish feline elite) emerged from the galley.

The boy looked like he was rather annoyed when the cyborg told him something (Onus' hearing was not as good as his eyesight, but he supposed it must be another assignment of chores), but Onus had watched the boy keenly enough to see through his facade. He could tell that Silver's "pup" was actually delighted to see his taskmaster for the first time in 3 hours, wagging his invisible tail with joy. Silver went back to the galley after a while, and then Onus saw something he had never seen in his earlier observation. The boy's eyes vividly reflected his longing and wistfulness for the cyborg.

Onus immediately squatted down in the crow's nest and turned his back to the railing. Clutching his knees, he felt his heart pumping remarkably quicker than usual. He found himself flushing hotly all the way up to his eyelids. He suspected that he was in love with the boy, but pretty soon he calmed down enough to realize that he was thinking complete nonsense.

Since he started his career as a spacer, he had rarely witnessed such an untainted innocence of minors. The cabin boy's look in those dusky blue eyes brought him back the memory of his first love, a girl of his own race with rosy skin. He remembered how fragile her slim figure felt in his arms when he bade farewell to her at the wharf. He blushed all over again, and pulled his hat down deeply.

For the next few days, Onus devoted himself to his duty as a watchman. He carefully watched the Etherium throughout the day, save for the times he had his meals. When he was under the crow's nest, he cast his eyes on everywhere but the boy. However, it had been not too long before he resumed his observation on the boy with a wholly renewed curiosity.

Fin.

A/N: This is my most favorite chapter of the series :-)


	10. Theme: 10 Goodbye

Title: Faith  
Theme: 10. Goodbye  
Rating: PG for Mild suggestive content.  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and no money was made from this. 

-

As Jim watched the cyborg mutineer leave the small hilltop after their parley had been broken off, he realized that a certain part of him desperately wanted to dart at the man's broad back, throw his arms around the barrel of the man's body, forget everything about this situation in jeopardy. At the same time, his rage and disappointment against the betrayer still obsessed him, and those bitter feelings stopped him from running up to Silver right away.

Despite the acute heartbreak caused by Silver's heartlessness, Jim somehow retained a small but tangible faith in him. He recollected several significant moments he had shared with Silver on the Legacy. He couldn't be sure if every single bit of those moments had been truthful, but he knew Silver had been sincere and honest to him at least in some degree.

He wondered whether the treasure mattered to Silver more than he himself did to the cyborg. As much as he wanted to find out the answer, he was quite terrified to face the truth. He knew Silver liked him pretty much, but he wasn't sure if he could beat the whole lot of Flint's treasure. Nevertheless, he decided to discover the truth. He had to know how much he meant to Silver, even if he might end up losing his life during the process. He felt a twinge of guilt for the sake of his mother, but he could hardly care anything but his desperate needs and desire for the cyborg.

Every time he wanted something, he always looked away from it and manipulated his real feelings. He simply assumed he would never get what he really wanted. What he dreaded even more was getting it once and then losing it all the same. It would be definitely much nastier than not getting it at all in the first place. Eventually it had become his habit to avoid and stay away from what he desired. Whenever he felt an antipathy towards something, he couldn't really tell whether he truly disliked it, or actually wanted it.

For the first time in a long while, Jim was in pursuit of what he really wanted. It was rare for him to be this sure of his desire. He wanted Silver. When the cyborg was within his reach, he felt secured, safe and protected from any potential harm both physically and mentally. He felt invincible. It was the feeling he had never quite experienced before. He faintly remembered he had felt something similar to this when he was very small, but still, it was nothing compared to the feeling when he was with Silver. He couldn't just let it go.

– – –

He reached out his arm to Silver, only to find out it was impossible to close a few inches left between them. At the cracking centroid of the mechanism, he was about to fall deep into the chasm alongside with the mechanical debris, but he found himself being surprisingly ready for it. He was ready to let Silver sacrifice him for the treasure, if that was what Silver wanted. For a split second before he lost his strength altogether, he curled his lips into the slightest smile. _You were everything to me, Silver._ If he didn't matter to Silver as much as the damn treasure did, he couldn't find the rest of his life worthwhile.

Just when he expected to meet his fate, a strong organic hand saved him from the fatal fall.

– – –

Jim watched Silver leaving in the Legacy's longboat for his second time. His first time had been a while ago, before the mutiny broke out. At that time, Jim involuntarily feared that Silver might not come back, albeit that idea was nonsense since they were merely checking up the boat. This time, despite the fact that the situation obviously told him that Silver intended to leave for good, Jim hardly felt fear of being left alone. Probably it had a lot to do with the presence of the shapeshifter, but it wasn't the only reason for his confidence. Somehow he had the feeling that they would reunite when the time comes. Something assured him of their eventual reunion. It was something stronger than the sixth sense or intuition. He just _knew_ it.

– – –

"And I was so right about it." While he stood on the edge of the deck and watched the stars go past, now 20-year-old (soon to be 21) Jim Hawkins recalled his certain memory and smiled contently. Noticing the peculiar cybernetic hum and creak coming up behind him, he turned around and hugged his ship's cook with all his might.

Fin.

A/N: The last part of this fic is based on The Shekinah's fantastic "Navigational Error", which is my most favorite fanfiction ever! NE is practically the official TP sequel to me ;-)


End file.
